Appreciating Grant Osborne

Grant Osborne is one of those people who have forgotten more things about the Bible and theology than I will ever know.

I had him as a professor at TEDS back in the day, and I learned an awful lot.  (He might dispute that. I didn't garner great grades in his very difficult classes.)

I learned how New Testament Greek really works (especially how fluid it is and how it preserves ambiguity and nuance. Greek is often a both/and language).

I learned what the New Testament actually says. We spent time in those classes down deep in Colossians, 1 Peter, John, 1-3 John, and Revelation.

I learned how to disagree agreeably and be humble about important but secondary issues. (Grant is an classic Arminian with a high degree of respect for and from his Calvinist colleagues.)

There was a lot to learn those days, and I didn't realize how much I had taken away until I was out of school and in the pastorate, working on sermons, thinking through issues, and plying the tools of the trade that Dr. Osborne had given me.

When I saw this post by Andy Naselli about a new festschrift (isn't that a great word?!) that colleagues had surprised Dr. Osborne with at the latest ETS conference, I knew that I need to post something about appreciating him.  He is all of the things that Andy says (especially humble), and I'm glad to see this book come out honoring him.

It's especially appropriate, in my mind, that it is a book on writing commentaries because Dr. Osborne probably taught me more about how to read a commentary than any other single person.  He did it by making me read them carefully, testing my understanding of them, telling me what was really important in a commentary, and recommending the best of them.

I am thankful for Grant Osborne.